Weekends in England - The Lake District.
The English Lake District is unique. It is an area of such outstanding diversity with natural beauty and man made detail at every turn that is best explored on foot.
We base our holidays near Grasmere a beautiful little village easily accessible but close to the centre of the Lakes. The village is famous for its associations with William Wordsworth and you will be walking the paths through the landscape that inspired him. There will be the opportunity to visits Wordsworths home at Rydal Mount and other places associated with him including the old grammar school in Hawkshead where he went to school and St Oswalds church in Grasmere where Wordsworth his wife Mary and sister Dorothy are buried. Sawrey which like Hawkshead is associated with Beatrix Potter will also be included in Easy walking programmes.
We offer holidays from Grasmere in Spring (April and May), and Autumn, (August, September and October). When the weather and the hills are at their best.
Dates and prices are set out in the Dates and Prices section.
The programme of walks is finalised when we know something about the group's fitness levels and interests. Final decisions on the day's walks are taken each morning after we have obtained the weather forecast. There will be a choice of walks every day.
- Easy Walks: Will explore the beautiful woodland paths in the valleys and dales and make ascents of the low fells that directly overlook the village.
- Moderate Walks: Will explore the high fells and summits within easy reach of Grasmere such as Helvellyn, Fairfield and the Langdale Pikes.
- Hard Walks: These will be quite ambitious walks linking a number of summits. Ascents of peaks such as Scafell (the highest mountain in England) will be included on the programme.
See Fitness Questions? for definitions of easy, moderate and hard walks.
The option is available for moderate and hard walkers on one day to do either an Adventure Day or sample a Challenge walk.
Adventure Days available in this area include an ascent of Helvellyn via the Striding Edge a well known and exciting ridge walk. Or we may do Jakes Rake an exposed but fun way of climbing the Langdale Pikes.
Challenge walk: The option will also be open for Hard Walkers to do a sample of a challenge walk which will involve:
Either: an approximate seven hour day completing a section of the "Bob Graham round" see Fitness Questions?
Or: Doing a seven hour section of a long distance footpath such as "The Cumbrian Way". The Cumbrian Way, approximately 80miles, is a traverse of the Lake District south to north, from Ulverston to Keswick. Normally it is done in eight days.
For information about Adventure Days and Challenge Walks see Fitness Questions?
Walkabout holidays in the English Lake District. South Lakeland.
To walk in the English Lake District in Spring and Autumn is one of life's great pleasures. This corner of north west England, the old counties of Westmorland and Cumberland just South of Carlisle and the Scottish border and north of Lancaster is one the most beautiful and distinctive landscapes in the world. It is idyllic walking country, the mountains though not particularly high or rugged are of great character and have legendary and evocative names such as High Street, Haystacks, Coniston Old Man to name but three.
In the main valleys are the old towns and villages that were once the economic and social centres of the pastoral farming communities. Many pubs retain their old character; the walls bedecked with the memories of the local pastimes of fox hunting, hound trails and fell running. In the dales are the ancient farmsteads built to withstand the rigours of winter and the onslaught of marauding bands from the north in bygone centuries. Many of the place names come from the language of the Norse settlers of the 9th Century.
The valleys are occupied by the long lakes that give the area its name. In the hills are innumerable smaller lakes and tarns a web of ancient footpaths drovers roads, bridal ways and Roman roads join everything together for the walker to explore. Every step is a delight; its small wonder that the Lake District inspired the work of one of England's most famous poets, William Wordsworth, who with his family now lies in the churchyard beside the river in the centre of the exquisite village of Grasmere considered by the poet to be "The loveliest spot that man hath ever found" If Wordsworth and the Romantic poets were inspired by the lakes and fells Beatrix Potter in her writings from her home in the Lake District reflects a relationship with animals and nature that is whimsical and quintessentially of the English countryside and of the Lake District.
WalkAbout Walking Holidays
Phone - 0151 724 2006
Mobile - 0773 403 8266
